Thread by @GrayConnolly

This on Jane Austen's "Persuasion" in @Plough is quite illuminating - Persuasion is among the best contemporary narrative histories of Nelson's Royal Navy & the figure of Captain Wentworth something of a role model...poor Anne needed better influences

plough.com/en/topics/life…

Not holding myself out as any sort of Jane Austen expert, merely that I liked Persuasion. It was recommended to me by a Captain (later Admiral) I served under who said Jane Austen was among the best guides to the Nelsonian era Royal Navy as JA's brothers served in the RN.

Captain Wentworth is very much the model of the 18thC Royal Navy officer as you usually did not marry when still sea-going. Usually you came ashore (as Lieutenant or Captain) and married later in life, assuming you had not first been killed or maimed in action.

Usually, Captain Wentworth would be significantly older than his wife. Also, a Captain in the Napoleonic Wars would, because of prize money, be very wealthy. If you were a woman from good family, even if 30+ (very old then), you would be v young to Captain W & marriage material

The Royal Navy was & is the senior service. The Army was, by contrast, a collection of regiments, some of good standing, some dubious, indeed. It is no accident, apparently, that Jane Austen's villains find their way in some very 'rough trade' parts of the Army.

Irony is that for all the high social standing of the Royal Navy, it was, for its time, a very meritocratic entity. Men from very humble backgrounds made their way up the literal ladder, such as James Cook, by sheer hard work and application. Officers had to pass examinations etc